After the two somewhat quieter songs it was time again to pick up the pace with Reach Out and Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing During these songs Xavier and Kelli did their thang, which shows on the next photo ...

OK, I admit, the photo is a little moved, but then again the whole room was dancing and the floor was moving along on the rhythm.
And on top of that it was incredibly warm, because there was no airconditiong or it wasn't turned on, so little streams of sweat poured off my head into my clothes.
It was hot on stage as well, because all of them were wiping themselves with the obligatory white towels.
I understand that Paradiso likes things to be sultry, but there are limits, I thought.

The following two songs were uptempo as well, Everyday and Roots. It is more than clear that our girl Kelli is overabundant with both the talent and the drive to become really big. I have seldom seen anybody with such an energetic charisma: jumping up and down and at the same time singing in tune; not everybody can pull that off. Kudos! And still I have my suspicions that she has the same pharmacist as Frank de Boer ;-)

In the meantime Xavier did a freestyle rap and showed us his six-pack, much to the satisfaction of all the ladies in the house.

Next it was the turn for a semi-instrumental, Rivers Runnin' Black, with Ed Jones en Bluey himself in the lead roles.

Naturally, this song was adorned by several solos, something that really suits this song. It is at that time you notice how good the musicians are by themselves and together as a band they reach an even higher plain and as far as I am concerned that is an unfrequented plain.

The last song of the regular set was Talkin Loud. Unfortunately, they played this after just 90 minutes, which is sort of on the short side for Incognito standards.

After this song everybody lined up next to each other on the front of the stage to take a bow.

Bluey introduced the band and he capitalized on the multicultural aspect of the band and the city they were playing in now. He thinks the Dutch audience is the best there is and he always felt that way, especially since it is so diverse and enthusiastic.
We learnt that Tim Vine is from New Chursey and Kelli Sae ended up with Incognito via New York City from Puerto Rico.
Richard Bailey originally comes from T&T (Trinidad & Tobago) and Julian Crampton married a German woman, which he is forgiven for ... just don't mention the war ;-)
The rest of the band comes from the UK I believe, and all of them are well renowned in the music business, be it as solo artists or be it as studio musicians.
Except of course for the two replacement singers, who only heard two days before this concert that they would have to fill in for a singer who got ill (Dianna Joseph), so they were on stage without having being able to practice much. And it showed that Incognito is a real family, because one of the substitutes is Bluey's sister's daughter.
Bluey himself is from the African island of Mauritius (the classic example of the fact that different cultures can coexist peacefully) and through Paris he ended up in London, where he has his own studio, the Blue Room.

After everybody left the stage, there was a burst of whistling, yelling and applauding. It was crystal clear that the audience expected an encore, and rightly so, because an Incognito concert is very moreish.

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© René Wirtz 2001